That depends on the type of anesthesia used, of course. A lot of other factors go into that. In general, when pets come into the Animal Hospital of Statesville, and they're anesthetized, it might take 12 to 24 hours until they're back to themselves. That might depend on their age and the length of anesthesia. But you won't have to carry them out of the hospital. They'll be awake and conscious and ready to go home and be by themselves for a little while.

Many times, we give pain medication before surgery, during surgery, and after surgery. And that would come in the form of injections. And then afterward, we would send you home with something that you would either give by mouth or transdermal is favored in cats. That way, you don't have to shove anything down their mouth. And that means it's absorbed through their skin. Many times, cats tolerate that better, and it's easier to give.

When you're traveling to the vet, the less stress you can provide for your cat, the better off they are. If they don't come in stressed, they often require less sedation for certain procedures. And then also, we'll talk to you about perhaps withholding food the night before a procedure of anesthesia.

Yes, the physical exam is vital. We are listening to your pet. We are examining everything about them to see if they are healthy. We would typically always want to do blood work too. There might be certain situations if your pet is young and it's a quick procedure that the pre-exam may not be required. But the more information we know, the safer we can keep your pet.

I look at that as the different levels of consciousness for the pet. And so sedation might be taking the edge off or calming your pet. We use that a lot for cats whenever they are nervous coming into the hospital, and they may not allow us to do the physical exam or the procedures we need to do. We may send something home that you can give by mouth, which would be a mild sedative to take the edge off. They're still aware, able to walk around, and respond to you and know what's going on. The other part that you asked was general anesthesia, and that would be full loss of consciousness and awareness in response to pain, which would be for a complete surgical procedure.